MCCG Annual Legislative Trip

The McHenry County Council of Governments (MCCG) conducted its annual legislative trip to Springfield last week. The MCCG constituents met with State Representatives Durkin, Flynn, McSweeney, Reick, Skillicorn, and Wheeler, as well as State Senators Althoff, Cullerton, McConnaughay, and Rodogno. The group was also able to meet with Governor Rauner the same afternoon as his annual budget address.

Key items on the MCCG legislative agenda included perennial concerns of potential cuts to the Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF) and the resource burden placed on local governments by unfunded legislative mandates, such as prevailing wage requirements and heightened FOIA regulations.

Regarding the LGDF, the tone of the legislators and Governor Rauner was that the LGDF was not in immediate danger of being cut substantially, if at all. This is a very different tone from two years ago when a bill proposing a 50 percent cut to LGDF funding was contemplated and seemed imminent as part of Governor Rauner’s initial budget priorities.